Paths of desire: A term appearing in studies of landscape design as well asarchitecture, which refers to the paths we trace when our desires lead usoff the beaten track and a trail forms behind us. This notion bothencompasses the incidental and manifests longing, and brings to light theimportance of both the traverser and the traversal. These figures are keyto the shaping of physical and theoretical topographies. No itinerary isundertaken without motivation, or without leaving a mark.

To accentuate the role of transgression in the itinerary is to throw intorelief the neutral plane of cartography. In the field of French studies,this notion has long been familiar to scholarly investigation of the urbanplan and the routes which span out from the metropole. The transgressivepath is inherent to conceptions of 19th century Paris, notably in thecontext of the bildungsroman, but also to theories of Orientalism. Thisfigure is evocative of both the violence inflicted on a terrain and on thecommunity to which it is tied by the aggressive trailblazer, and thesymmetrical violence which responds to these border crossings. Itacknowledges the importance of both the initial transgressive act and itsmanifold consequences.

This is a subject which is especially rich in interdisciplinary potential, areflection of the blurring of lines which constitutes the interpretativeframework itself. We welcome papers from scholars with interests in literarytheory, geography, postcolonial theory, gender and queer studies, culturaland urban studies, and other related fields. We also encourage thesubmission of creative productions, including films and fiction.

We are looking to move beyond existing and thoroughly wrought tropes of thevoyager to plot new itineraries.

Please send an abstract of 300 words to pathsofdesire_at_gmail.com by June 15th,2007.